There have been several reports lately regarding phone calls people have been receiving from individuals claiming to work for “a security company” who is going out of business.\u00a0 Therefore, they’re claiming this company owes the individual a refund.\u00a0 Although, we all know, there is no refund.\u00a0 They simply want your credit card information so they can commit fraud.<\/p>\n
These scammers typically call from a 1-800 number or an “unknown” number.\u00a0 The scammer who called me, played along with whatever antivirus company I mentioned.\u00a0 He said my security provider is going out of business, and they had to process my refund.\u00a0 He asked for my credit card information multiple times, and got frustrated with the questions I was asking.\u00a0 Here’s a basic synopsis of the phone call:<\/p>\n
Me: I’m sorry, who are you with?<\/p>\n
Scammer: Your security provider.<\/p>\n
Me: Which one?<\/p>\n
Scammer: The security company is going out of business, and they have hired us to process the refunds.\u00a0 We will need your payment information to credit the account.<\/p>\n
Me: But what security provider are you talking about?\u00a0 My house, my computer??<\/p>\n
Scammer: Your computer.\u00a0 What is the payment information, so we can issue the credit?<\/p>\n
Me: Oh, my computer.\u00a0 McAfee?<\/p>\n
Scammer: Yes.<\/p>\n
Me: What?! McAfee is going out of business.\u00a0 That is incredibly surprising.\u00a0 I would think I would’ve seen this on the news or something.\u00a0 When did they begin this process?\u00a0 How long will I be protected?<\/p>\n
Scammer: I need your card information to process the refund.\u00a0 You’ll be getting over $300 back.<\/p>\n
Me: Really?!?!\u00a0 WOW!! That’s amazing — considering I don’t use McAfee, nor have I ever paid them a dime.\u00a0 So, tell me really — what did you need that credit card information for?<\/p>\n
–They hung up.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
As you read above, they’re incredibly evasive and go out of their way not to answer the questions you ask.\u00a0 Honestly, from a scamming perspective, it’s smart.\u00a0 The less they say, the less likely they are to provide the wrong information.<\/p>\n
If someone is less familiar with these types of scams, it is entirely possible they tell the scammers their antivirus company name without thinking about it.\u00a0 Like how I mentioned McAfee, but knew it was a scam.<\/p>\n
If anyone has received a call like this, please share your story below in the comments section.\u00a0 The more we talk about this, the more aware people will become.<\/p>\n
And to PC Matic customers, no we are not going out of business!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tech Scammers Call Offering Fraudulent Refunds There have been several reports lately regarding phone calls people have been receiving from individuals claiming to work for “a security company” who is going out of business.\u00a0 Therefore, they’re claiming this company owes the individual a refund.\u00a0 Although, we all know, there is no refund.\u00a0 They simply want […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":55107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[183],"tags":[133,5044],"class_list":["post-58783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tips","tag-scam","tag-scammers"],"yoast_head":"\n
Tech Scammers Calling Offering Major Security "Refunds"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A new scam has emerged, with these scammers claiming to represent your security solution provider, who happens to be going out of business. Lucky for you -- they're issuing refunds!!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/tech-scammers-calling-offering-major-security-refunds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tech Scammers Calling Offering Major Security "Refunds"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new scam has emerged, with these scammers claiming to represent your security solution provider, who happens to be going out of business. 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